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Neodissociation Theory

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences
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Definition

Based on Janet’s classic notion of dissociation, Hilgard (1977) proposed a neodissociation theory of hypnosis, the core concept of which was the division of consciousness into parallel, coexisting streams. Stemming from this theory, there are currently multiple alternative accounts of how dissociation may explain hypnotic phenomena.

Introduction

The concept of désagrégration, or dissociation, originated with Janet (1907), in his attempt to describe and explain various phenomena that appear to have a suggestive basis, such as hypnosis and some mental disorders. He proposed that a set of mental contents can become split off, or disassociated, from other mental processes and thus separated from awareness and voluntary control. Moreover, these dissociated contents may then be activated, outside of awareness, through suggestion.

Developing these ideas, Hilgard (1977) hypothesized that in hypnosis, an amnesia-like barriercan block some mental activity from the conscious access...

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References

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Correspondence to Pamela Sadler .

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Sadler, P., Woody, E. (2017). Neodissociation Theory. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1143-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1143-1

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